1990 Fleer, Gary Ward

#618 Gary Ward

Here is the third and final Gary Ward card that I got signed during Spring Training in 2013. Gary is the hitting coach for the White Sox AA team, the Birmingham Barons, and I got the cards signed after the Sox minor leaguers worked out the day I was there. You can see the first card I posted here and the second one here.

I now have five cards signed by Gary after meeting him in Arizona last year and from a TTM success from four years ago. Those signed cards consist of two Twins cards, two Rangers cards, and this Tigers card. It seems that all I am missing is a signed Yankees card. I wish I would have realized that before Spring Training last year.

Gary's career spanned twelve seasons. He was a two-time All Star, but never played in the playoffs. His best season was with the Twins in 1982. That year, he hit .289 and had career highs in home runs (28) and RBI (91).

1990 Fleer, Mike Gallego

#7 Mike Gallego

Mike is the third base coach for the A's this season and he was nice enough to sign three cards for me before a Cactus League game in Glendale, Arizona last month. The A's have a decent assortment of coaches that played in the '80s and '90s and that is who I got most of my autographs from that afternoon. I only got a couple of current players to sign, but getting 'graphs from four members of the coaching staff more than made up for it.

Mike played in the Major Leagues for thirteen seasons with the A's, Yankees, and Cardinals. He was a light-hitting middle infielder that played good defense. He hit .239 for his career and somehow managed to slug 42 home runs, including a career-high of 12 in 1991. That might not seem that impressive unless you realize that Mike is listed at 5'6" and 160 pounds.

Mike has a very interesting signature. If you check out his Baseball Almanac page, they have a sig by Mike that is much longer than this one and halfway readable. This one, on the other hand, looks more like a sign. There is nothing there that looks like "Mike" and you might be able to make out a "G" if you are wearing beer goggles. But all three signatures I got from him that day were identical, so at least he is consistent.

Mike has one certified autograph and that is from the '96 Leaf Signature set and that autograph looks more like the Baseball Almanac version than this one. So, I wonder if this is his hurried ballpark sig or if this is what all of his signatures look like now.

1990 Donruss, Ken Oberkfell

#494 Ken Oberkfell

Here is the second of three cards that Ken Oberkfell signed for me last summer. Ken is the manager of the Lincoln Saltdogs of the American Association and I got the cards signed when the 'Dogs came to Wichita. The first card can be seen here.

The first two cards I posted of Ken had him with the Cardinals and the last one had him as a Brave. After the Braves, he was traded to Pittsburgh towards the end of the 1988 season. He basically played for the Pirates for two months before being dealt to the Giants early in the '89 season. With the Giants, he got into 83 games, but mostly as a pinch hitter. While he played in the field 52 times that season, he only started 14 times.

That was the first time that Ken had not been an everyday player. While most people might struggle with the new role, Ken thrived in it. He hit a career-best .319 that season while scoring 17 runs and driving in 15 more. He played in all four World Series game that fall and started two. During the Series, he was 2-6 with 3 walks and a run. That was the second and final Series that Ken had appeared in and he finished his career a .300 hitter during the Fall Classic.

After the Series, Ken was granted free agency and he moved on to Houston.

1990 CMC, Bruce Fields

#591 Bruce Fields

Here is the second card that Bruce signed for me at a Royals game in 2012. Bruce was the Indians hitting coach at the time and he signed the two cards while his club was taking batting practice. The first card can be seen here.

By the time this card came out, Bruce's Major League career was over. He was originally drafted by the Tigers in 1978 and made his minor league debut that season. He spent his first six seasons playing A-ball or lower before finally getting the bump up to AA in 1984. He spent two seasons at the AA level before moving on to AAA in 1986. That season coincided with his first Major League call up with the Tigers where he got into 16 games and hit .279.

It was then back to AAA where he spent most of the remainder of his career. He did catch a couple of breaks with the Mariners in 1988 and '89, but that accounted for 42 games over those two seasons. He wrapped up his career after the 1991 season after failing to get called up by the Braves or the Blue Jays. He was thirty years old when he retired.

Bruce played in just 58 Major League games, but he got into 1381 games in the minors. He saw time with five organizations and he hit .295 with 41 home runs and 235 stolen bases.

Bruce is pictured with the Tacoma Tigers on this card. The Tacoma Tigers had no affiliation with the Detroit Tigers. They were the AAA team for the A's, hence the green and gold uniforms. There is still a team in Tacoma and they are called the Rainiers. They are affiliated with the nearby Mariners.

Bruce has an interesting signature. There is a lot going on with it.

1990 CMC, Ed Sprague

#345 Ed Sprague

Here is the second Ed Sprague card that I got signed at a Kansas State baseball game two seasons ago. Ed is the head coach of the Pacific Tigers and he was nice enough to sign three cards for me after the game. The first card, which I posted two years ago, can be seen here.

Ed played in the Majors for eleven seasons, playing with the Blue Jays, A's, Padres, Pirates, Red Sox, and Mariners. He spent his first seven and a half seasons with Toronto before bouncing around ever year for the final four seasons. He was primarily used as a third baseman and, for his career, he hit .247 with 152 home runs and 558 RBI.

In the 1992 World Series, Ed, who had played in only 22 games during the regular season, hit a pinch hit two-run home run in game two against the Braves. The dinger came in the top of the ninth and put Toronto in the lead. They won the game to tie the Series before winning it in six games.

1990 CMC, Bill Pecota

#191 Bill Pecota

Here is another Bill Pecota card from this years Fanfest. There are still a couple more cards of Bill to come, but this is the last one that has him as a Royal.

I have eighteen cards signed from this CMC set and this is the first one of an Omaha Royal. Omaha has been the Royals AAA team since the teams inception in 1969. They remained true to the Royals moniker until they changed their names to the Golden Spikes in 1999. The Spikes name lasted all of three years before they returned to the O-Royals in 2002. They stayed as the Royals through the 2010 season. In 2011, they moved out of Rosenblatt Stadium to a brand new Werner Park in Sarpy County. With the new park came a new name as they are now the Omaha Storm Chasers. This time, the new name has stuck. They are still affiliated with the Royals and they have won the last two Pacific Coast League Championships and last seasons AAA Championship.

I was a little surprised when the club changed their name, but I guess I should not have been. Very few AAA teams carry their parent clubs nickname anymore. This year, their are only three teams still doing it- the Cubs, Red Sox, and Braves. It makes sense to have a different name. It is nice to have the chance to brand your own product and even name the team after something that pertains to the city or region. But, the better reason is that teams change affiliation so often now, it is beneficial to not have to change your nickname every four or five years.

1990 CMC, Leo Garcia

#140 Leo Garcia

Here is a card that I got signed at Spring Training this year. This one features the former Red, Leo Garcia.

On the day I got this signed, I was 'graphing the Dodger minor league side of Camelback Ranch. The Dodgers were already off for Australia at the time, so I figured that would be a good time to hit up their minor league complex. I was going to a White Sox game afterwards and, since I 'graphed the White Sox minor leaguers last year, I figured I would give the Dodgers a shot this year. Plus, with the big league club half a world away, I figured that there would be less people there.

When I got to the Dodger camp, I was disappointed to find out that their minor leaguers do not have names on the back of their jerseys. With so many literal "no-names" out there, it makes it really tough for someone like me who knows none of the guys. Luckily, I found another 'grapher from Nashville who found a website with many of the guys numbers. That helped out, though I didn't get too many cards signed from the minor league players. It didn't help that two of the main ones I was wanting made the trip to Australia- Zach Lee and Joc Pederson.

But, I did do okay with the minor league coaches. That is how I got this card signed by Leo Garcia. He is the hitting coach for the Dodgers Rookie team in Ogden, Utah. He was nice enough to sign two cards for me after practice that day.

The highlight of the day, though, was meeting Tommy Lasorda. I did not expect him to be there since I figured he would have made the trip down under. Because of that, I did not take any cards of him. Fortunately, though, I had a ball on me that I have been carrying around to games for three years. So, I busted that out of the wrapper and finally put it to use. I would have preferred an '81 Donruss signed by him. But, since I don't even own that card, the ball will do just fine. That is just another example of why I need to complete the '81 Donruss set. One of these days....